London pride as disputes week beckons

Merry is the month of May which will see over 50 leading law firms, barristers’ chambers, experts,...

Merry is the month of May which will see over 50 leading law firms, barristers’ chambers, experts, and leading arbitration and mediation bodies join forces, alongside academics and the legal media to launch London’s answer to similar events in Hong Kong, Dubai and Paris; namely, London International Disputes Week.

Speaking to CDR, CMS partner Richard Bamforth explained London International Disputes Week (LIDW) is inclusive, aiming “to bring participants in dispute resolution together; to celebrate London as a centre for international disputes, and to welcome those who use its services”.

LIDW is not the first event of its kind – those with long memories will remember former Lord Chancellor’s Chris Grayling’s Global Legal Summit in 2015, which celebrated 800 years of Magna Carta to roughly equal amounts of acclaim and derision, while every October sees the opening of the legal year, with selected foreign Bar leaders attending with the judiciary’s great and good alongside the Law Society of England and Wales and Bar Council.

The former was arguably too diffuse, too grandiose, and ignored the realities of austerity in the United Kingdom’s legal system; weaknesses that are still present today, while the latter is as much a social gathering, as it is politically and legally relevant.

It is, however, the first event of its kind to focus solely on dispute resolution, one aimed at cherishing the strengths of London as a centre for handling disputes – and, unlike the Summit, it brings together a wider community of interest, with a seminal one-day conference at its heart, and 18 sessions on different types of disputes and forms of dispute resolution spread over four days.

Iain Quirk, a barrister at Essex Court Chambers, notes that LIDW “presents one unique story. It brings together all the major law firms and main institutions on a sole programme, with one central conference bringing the themes of LIDW together”.

THE VIEW FROM WHITEHALL

There are those who say the UK government has been slow to show such support in previous years, but Bamforth says that “so far as disputes as concerned, the government has not always been as vocal as it could be in supporting London, there is now a degree of support there has not been before”.

An example of such is the Lord Chancellor David Gauke MP giving the keynote address, and other ministers keen to be involved; indeed, the Ministry of Justice’s own Lucy Fraser QC MP spoke on such themes at CDR’s own recent Litigation Symposium.

IN-HOUSE APPROVAL

What LIDW is, is business-minded – one with clients at its heart, addressing challenges face-on. As Clare Lynch, a senior solicitor at Vodafone explains, “LIDW is a great opportunity for people within the legal community to come together and for clients and their lawyers to address issues that both sides see as important, helping to drive change and encourage efficiencies”.

For Lynch: “In-house lawyers would say that the ability to spend a day out of the office with one legal institution in discussing a specific topic is a luxury, so the idea of a programme which brings many of them together covering many different areas, allowing the lawyers to dip in, and out, depending on relevancy is a much more efficient use of time.”

SHADOW OF BREXIT

The event comes at a significant time, as London looks to establish its future role and status as a dispute hub in the post-Brexit environment. However, the programme has sought to carve out, as far as is possible, a debate set aside from the politics and Brexit in which it draws together London’s common strengths – and looks forward to what the future might hold.

Bamforth says the event would have come about irrespective of Brexit, “as this is the right time for it to happen, and regardless of Brexit-related uncertainty, the business community is supportive of London dispute resolution generally”, as previous City of London research has shown.

He adds: “As we get closer to Brexit, it will be even more important to support London, and so if anything, Brexit is an additional factor in highlighting the importance of the event.”

Professor Loukas Mistelis, the director of the School of International Arbitration at Queen Mary, University of London, reminds readers that post-Brexit, the subjects under discussion “are not unknown quantities. Some matters may well arise in relation to enforcement and no doubt will be explored in the sessions”.

For as Quirk notes, whether deal or no-deal, “the UK, and London, will continue to work with Europe, following Brexit, whatever it brings, so it is no bad thing to be holding the event so close to Brexit”.

CLIENT-CENTRED

LIDW is also sectorally minded – financial services, insurance, insolvency, shipping, and infrastructure and energy sectors are all, in part or whole, included, something striking to Quirk, who praises “the theme of collaboration between various firms and sets running through the whole week. Nothing on this scale has ever been done before”.

Lynch notes: “There is great diversity in what our clients ask of us in-house, and a diversity of firms with whom we work. Therefore, the LIDW model and schedule suits us well.”

“It’s a chance to reflect on issues like disclosure, and how in-house counsel can shape the work of practitioners, which have currently resulted in reforms, and to learn how we can learn from similar examples and make changes in other areas.”

That focus on diversity is also important – given the prominence of London lawyers in bodies like ArbitralWomen and initiatives like the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge.

INTERNATIONALLY FOCUSED

LIDW is not parochial – speakers have a strong international provenance, as do the firms and chambers involved. Unlike before, so too is there a strong client focus; looking at their experiences, and using those to formulate discussions on the future of London dispute resolution, ranging from how and where, disputes will arise, how London should adapt to the changing landscape and the future of dispute resolution globally. Mistelis agrees, saying this is what makes LIDW “quite distinct from the Paris, Hong Kong and Dubai, and other events”.

He says: “It does not focus on arbitration alone but encompasses the whole spectrum of dispute resolution from negotiation and mediation to litigation. In addition there are well-identifiable “pathways” covering commercial arbitration, public international law disputes (including energy and investment disputes), trade, insurance and commodities disputes and litigation.

Mistelis also flags up specialist disputes such as white-collar crime and investigations, life sciences and IP, technology, media and telecoms disputes, and the like, all of which are largely less arbitral in character.

That, says Bamforth, distinguishes LIDW from other events, which tend to be focused around individual arbitration venues. He explains: “The role of international commercial courts, for example, will be covered as part of proceedings. While we will look at the whole range of options within the discipline, LIDW is not intended to be solely focused on any one way to resolve disputes; it’s a genuinely international forum, which reaches across the whole of that community.”

He gives an example: “Our main conference, for example, includes the London Court of International Arbitration, ICC International Court of Arbitration, the Law Society, the Bar Council and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and others, which shows a breadth of institutions, which is a collaboration that (to my knowledge) has not happened before.”

Likewise, Mistelis notes: “London has a major concentration of expertise, not only in terms of lawyers, but also accountants, valuations experts, court reporters, and other relevant professions. This level of concentrations is unparalleled.”

THE JUDICIAL VIEW

The judiciary is also involved, says Quirk, explaining: “Judges have played their part in giving their input into the conference programme, with a number of senior judges who have been fully behind the event as a whole,” while Mistelis says “English courts are used widely by non-English parties and the openness and transparency with which English law operates has made an accessible and popular resource.”

Indeed, leading for the judiciary is One Essex Court’s Dame Elizabeth Gloster DBE PC, once vice-president of the Court of Appeal, who endorsed LIDW’s opening announcement, saying: “London has long been a respected centre for handling disputes, but this is not a time for complacency. The event will provide our great city with the opportunity to showcase our heritage, whilst looking ahead to the future and how we will adapt, evolve and progress,” something London’s commercial judges would endorse.

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